Worried about supplying our troops in landlocked Afghanistan, years ago I noted that one benefit of targeting the mullah regime for overthrow would be that we might have a more secure supply line through a friendly Iran that doesn't require troublesome Pakistan or untrustworthy Russia:
One of the benefits of overthrowing the mullah regime in Iran and replacing it with a government that reflects the pro-American sentiment of the people of Iran will be the land corridor it will open to Afghanistan.
Now, our access to Afghanistan is from the north through the unstable "Stans" and back through an increasingly unfriendly Russia; or through Pakistan which we have to coddle to keep land-locked Afghanistan from being cut off from us.
Open up a supply route through Iran to Afghanistan and suddenly we don't need to be quite so reliant on our Central Asian bases or so careful with a Pakistan that will not crack down on the Taliban who hide and organize inside Pakistan. We won't have to be so shy when it comes to hunting bin Laden there, either.
We did get Osama bin Laden, but Pakistan's reactions show why I was worried.
As to the supply line issue, I was right. But I did not mean doing it this way!
The company that holds the multibillion-dollar Pentagon contract to supply U.S. forces in Afghanistan with food and water brought in supplies to build an Afghan warehouse through Iran, in a possible violation of U.S. sanctions.
Anham FZCO used Iran's Bandar Abbas seaport last year to land equipment and building materials that were then transported across Iran, according to business executives involved in the process and corporate emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Completing the warehouse at Bagram military base near Kabul put Anham in position to win the Pentagon supply contract, which it did in June 2012.
I guess Iran was close enough for government work.
To be clear, I meant overthrow the mullah regime, get a friendlier Iran, and then supply our forces in Afghanistan through Iranian territory--in that order.
